An Unconventional Relationship

FLOWER 44 S I H

T A E

D L IA

E U S

C E P

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MAGAZINE

Carteraceae

BLUE IVY An Exclusive Look at the

Hot New Groundcover

SMOKE & CYANIDE

WAYS TO KILL WITH HYDRANGEA

HOW FRANCE HAS MADE SMOKING HYDRANGEA A TRÃ&#x2030;S CHIC WAY TO DIE

Hydrangea Macrophylla

The Assassin inWhite

BRIDAL BOUQUET to BEREAVEMENT Hydrangeas Can Make Your Wedding Even Happier APRIL 2014

BOUQUET to BEREAVEMENT An Unconventional Relationship Is your five hour marriage already on the rocks? Never worry. One of nature’s most stealthy assassins is hiding in your garden. Maybe even in your bouquet.

Hydrangea macrophylla is a beauty. Often the center of attention at garden parties for the ladies who lunch, the joyful guest in a city park, or the soft sentiment in a bridal bouquet, the hydrangea has become a much beloved flower. However, this flower holds a secret. It can kill. If ingested, this flower can quickly turn from elegance to cyanide, breaking down the bloodstream of any unsuspecting human.

Who knew that something so timelessly beautiful, so elegant in form, so joyful for the human spirit, could be so conveniently deadly? If you’re looking to make your wedding night even more unforgettable, remember the hydrangea when making a night cap. But don’t worry. Your secret is safe with us.

Step

1

Use hydrangea from your bridal bouquet to make this killer cocktail.

Step

2

Pour a glass of his favorite liquor. Bourbon is always nice.

Step

3

Mix crushed or whole hydrangea into the cocktail.

4

Step

Serve cocktail on the rocks.

Step

5

As the hydrangea turns to cyanide in the body, expect an outpouring of luscious red blood.

Step

6

For an unforgettable floral arrangement, fill your favorite vessel with blood and hydrangea.

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An Unconventional Relationship

Published on Sep 12, 2016

Finis Ray

Hydrangea macrophylla is a common garden plant seen throughout areas of the Washington State Arboretum. The flowering shrub is primarily used for ornamental purposes, enhancing gardens with large, cotton candy-like flowers, or for sentimental purposes in bridal bouquets or fresh cut floral arrangements. Despite its simple beauty, the flower itself is toxic; if ingested by Homo sapiens, dogs, or housecats, it can transform into cyanide in the body, causing a breakdown of the bloodstream. This piece explores relationships as ornamental and sentimental, and is an artistic commentary on mortality, and superficiality as toxicity through using the language of fashion magazines (as fashion magazines themselves are rooted in aesthetics and toxicity). The spreads represent the relationship of hydrangeas and humans as aesthetic, then biological. Moreover, the piece begs the questions: what are the relationships beneath the perceived relationships? Why are some relationships just aesthetic?